Protecting and Growing Self and Wealth in These Uncertain Times

Brian Michael Jenkins

“A truck-driving terrorist carved a mile-long path of carnage through lower Manhattan, killing eight innocents Tuesday as he plowed down helpless victims on a bike path. The rented white pickup hopped the curb at W. Houston with ISIS-inspired suspect Sayfullo Saipov drawing a bead on bicyclists as screams filled the Halloween skies and blood stained the pavement…”

–New York Daily News website, November 1, 2017

Continuing on the topic of vehicles from last night night, have any readers thought about how you might try to survive a vehicle terror attack like the one that took place in New York City earlier this week? A legitimate concern, I think, for those who live/work in and visit the “big city” (not saying “Main Street” couldn’t be in the bad guys’ crosshairs too). Consider the following from Alex Nowrasteh on the Cato Institute’s blog Halloween evening:

Vehicle attacks are not the norm in the United States where firearms are more readily available, but they are rising in frequency, as we saw in Charlottesville earlier this year. ISIS recently encouraged its followers to use trucks in lone wolf terrorist attacks and Saipov allegedly left a note declaring allegiance to that wannabe-Caliphate.

RAND Corporation terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins remarked that airplane hijackings were the norm for 1970s terrorist attacks while suicide bombers were the norm for the 1980s. Today, vehicle attacks are increasingly common around the world. Jenkins identified approximately 40 vehicle attacks around the world from 2000 through 2016 that resulted in 167 deaths, approximately four per attack. That total also includes the terrorists who died carrying them out…

(Editor’s note: Bold added for emphasis)

As vehicular terrorism shouldn’t be taken lightly, I scoured the Internet for strategies to avoid falling victim to such violence. Three articles grabbed my attention:

While there’s some overlap, each piece brings different yet complimentary ideas to the table. I’m thinking a decent plan to counter the car or truck terror attack could be developed from these resources. But that’s something readers can decide for themselves.

Last Thursday I blogged about the nonprofit global policy think tank RAND Corporation and their briefing of a U.S. House committee on July 18 regarding the threat Al-Qaeda poses to the United States.

I came across the RAND Corporation again when I stumbled on a recent article by Brian Michael Jenkins, Senior Adviser to the RAND President, on the U.S. News & World Report website. The former Green Beret captain served as chair of the Political Science Department at RAND and is the author of numerous books, reports, and articles on terrorism-related topics. So the man’s got “street cred” when it comes to discussing terrorism. Jenkins wrote on July 10:

Recently, I was asked to prepare testimony for a congressional hearing examining the possibility that an armed terrorist attack – similar to the 2008 attack that killed 162 people in Mumbai – could happen in the United States…

In Mumbai, there were 10 terrorists, armed with assault rifles, pistols, grenades and improvised explosives. They carried out coordinated attacks across the city, paralyzing a metropolis of 14 million people for 60 hours while mesmerizing the world’s media. It was a complex operation and likely the culmination of months of training.

Jenkins went on to point out a number of challenges to planning, mobilizing, and carrying out a Mumbai-style attack in the United States. Still, he concluded:

A Mumbai-style attack is conceivable in the United States, though probably not anywhere near the same scale.

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

I just got done digging up his testimony that was submitted before the House Homeland Security Committee, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, on June 12. “The Threat of a Mumbai-Style Terrorist Attack in the United States” is an incredibly interesting and informative read, especially as I, too, believe a Mumbai-style attack in America is possible. There are others who also share this view. I blogged back on April 28, 2011:

Should we as Americans be concerned with a Mumbai-style terrorist attack happening on our shores? Definitely, according to chatter picked up by Massad Ayoob, a captain with the Grantham (New Hampshire) Police Department and an internationally-known firearms and self-defense instructor. He wrote yesterday in his blog Massad Ayoob on Guns on the Backwoods Home Magazine website that:

The general consensus of police, military, and national intelligence is that it’s only a matter of time before this nation experiences an incident reminiscent of Beslan or Mumbai: armed, trained, committed terrorists massacring the innocent with automatic weapons and explosive.

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

An “American Mumbai?” It’s possible. Some might even argue probable.

You can read Brian Michael Jenkins’ testimony to that House committee on the RAND website here.